Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Finger Foods - Veggie 'Pankoras'

I got the idea for pancakes as finger foods from those I know who are using the 'baby lead' weaning method with their little ones. I'd seen lots of recipes for this type of thing, and even at my local children's center they often hand out similar things (although obviously not vegan!).

I thought it was a great idea but wanted to come up with a vegan version that packed a punch nutrition wise. In these I use spinach and grated carrot as the Vitamin C in carrots helps along the absorption of Iron from the spinach. You don't have to use these vegetables though - you could use all kinds of combinations. I've called them 'Pankoras' as they are a cross between pancakes and pakora :)

Ingredients

100g Self Raising Flour

100g Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour)

2 TBSP Nutritional Yeast

1 TSP Baking Powder

1 cup Alpro Junior Soya Milk

1 large handful of Spinach (chopped)

1 large grated Carrot

25g grated Soya Cheese

A little vegetable oil for frying

Add your dry ingredients to a bowl and give a good mix. Slowly add your soya milk - depending on the brand of gram flour you have used you may need more or less (you are aiming for typical batter consistency)

Add the rest of your ingredients and give it a good mix until well blended.

Heat a small frying pan with the vegetable oil and cook pankoras until browned on either side and cooked through. This amount of mixture usually makes around 8 for me.

Transfer onto kitchen paper and pat off excess oil, allow to cool.

These can be eaten right away, or stored in the freezer and used one by one. To do this I cut the pankoras into manageable strips and separate the portions with baking paper in a seal-able tub. They keep well in the freezer for around a month and I just defrost as needed.

As your child gets older, or if you have a BLW baby who particulaly likes spice you could add some traditional Pakora spices such as Garam Masala or Coriander.

Although Alpro Soya Junior states 1+ on the carton, on the back it states it can be used as part of a weaning diet from 6 months onwards.